You are here

Overview

Foundations for Freedom is an international NGO registered in Ukraine. It was initiated in 1993 as a programme of Initiatives of Change in the UK and works in Eastern Europe.

There is an interesting theory: when 10% of population change, the remaining 90% become different as well. Should we wait until a leader changes things for the better or should we start with ourselves?

"Be the change you want to see in the world!" - Mahatma Gandhi.

Mission

Foundations for Freedom aims to foster the development of truly free, democratic and just society, where people live in commitment to the values where freedom thrives, in particular honesty and personal responsibility.

Activities

Supporting the development of responsible leadership.

Enhancing social involvement of youth.

Initiating and supporting public dialogues.

Developing mutual understanding and cooperation between various ethnic and social groups.

Establishing honest and transparent relations between citizens and governmental structures.

Areas of activity

Reconciliation projects, public dialogues, trust-building activities.

Offering access to international networks and experience exchange programmes.

Leading round-tables, forums and conferences.

Leading various training and educational programmes.

Contacts

Foundations for Freedom is active in Ukraine, Latvia, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Romania and Serbia.

NEWS

'...Freedom from and freedom for...' We warmly invite you and your family to participate in the Regional Conference of Foundations for Freedom, which will take place 11-14 December 2014 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

What were our challenges of the last year? What will we take forward? What inspires us to keep on doing our activities in the year ahead? Deadline for applications 25 November 2014. Read more here>>

You are invited to spend a week at the Initiatives of Change Conference Centre in Caux, Switzerland, 18-26 June 2014, interacting in a community of people from different countries, backgrounds and generations, preparing the conference centre for the summer conferences. Read more here>>

Dialogue was used to improve understanding and develop trust building at the Regional Meeting of Foundations for Freedom, which took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 6-8 December 2013. Around 60 participants from different parts of Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Romania, Germany, Poland and Latvia took part in the Regional Meeting. All of them had been participants in Foundations for Freedom (F4F) projects or initiatives. See more here>>

A practice seminar series on Discrimination, Photography & Anti-Bias starts on 15-21 February in Ukraine, Carpathian Mountains with the first "basic" module. The project is created in cooperation of the Initiative Mittel- und Osteuropa (InMOE) e.V. with the Club for Young Leaders (Ukraine) and the New Faces (Belarus). Read more about the project here>>

Dialogue was used to improve understanding and develop trust building at the Regional Meeting of Foundations for Freedom, which took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 6-8 December 2013. Around 60 participants from different parts of Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Romania, Germany, Poland and Latvia took part in the Regional Meeting. All of them had been participants in Foundations for Freedom (F4F) projects or initiatives. See more here>>

Article ‘Crimeans are looking for mutual understanding’ and photo report about Dialogues of Foundations for Freedom in Crimea on the topic of the current situation in Ukraine was published in Crimean News on 11 January 2014. Read the full article here>>

Let us invite you to the honest conversation about our heritage represented by the symbols of different epochs: monuments, titles of towns and streets. How do they influence us, our families, what is their significance for our communities? Which symbols of the past have become the part of our common past, why others tend to evoke debates?

The “Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past” project team invites you to take part in the “Our heritage and its modern implication: monuments and names of streets” Dialogue Seminar, that will take place on 12-15 December 2013 in Chernihiv, Ukraine. See more>>

We would like to invite you and your family to participate in the Regional Meeting and General Assembly of Foundations for Freedom, which will take place 6-8 December 2013 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

If you are a member of F4F/IofC and its satellite networks or the Baranivka community; if you have taken part in 'Healing the Past' dialogues; if you have researched ethical leadership or are interested in any of these themes, then you are welcome to spend 3 days reviewing the outcomes, networking, exchanging skills and experiences and renewing perspectives and goals. Read more>>

The Annual Review lists the main events organized by Foundations for Freedom in 2012: Regional Meeting and local events of the on-going projects "Club for Young Leaders" (in Crimea and Romania), "Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past", "House in Baranivka"; and international visits and conferences. Read more>>

Caux Scholar graduates are taking their new knowledge “down the mountain” as part of an exciting new project with Foundations for Freedom in Ukraine. Thanks to the Robert Hahnloser Stiftung Foundation and the Irene Prestwich Fund the Caux Scholars Program is launching a partnership with Foundations for Freedom (F4F). Read more>>

How can we build trust - within ourselves, within our society, in our country and across all boundaries? 18-25 August, we organized a youth seminar on the theme 'Building trust across cultural boundaries. Thirty young people from nine different nationalities were invited to Gantikow in Brandenburg/Germany on a spiritual journey to explore these questions.Read more>>

A group of 10 got together again in Simferopol (Crimea) in order to deepen their understanding of different aspects of ethical leadership and to learn how to run excerсises and sessions. Apart from practiсe and unwrap of key excerсises aimed at developing atmosphere of trust and openness among participants used during the seminars of 'Initiatives of Change', future facilitators were offered some basic theories and general structure of the course, which included the topics of 'Values', 'Motivation', 'Cooperation', etc.Read more>>

International non-governmental organization Foundations for Freedom is gathering a team for positions of Treasurer, Project Coordinator, Training Coordinator and FUNDRAISERs on voluntary basis due to the reforms connected with decision-making and administration of the organization Read vacancies' description here>>

INGO Foundations for Freedom would like to inform you that last year has received a grant from the Bohdan Havrilyshyn Foundation (Ukraine) to prepare trainers and educational manual in order to run seminars on ethical leadership in the future. Read more>>

UIA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) soldiers: heroes or enemies? 9 May – Victory Day or Mourning Day? Was the Great Patriotic War indeed ‘patriotic’ for all Ukrainian territories? These answers are hard to answer even for an experienced historian because the cornerstone of this history is composed of prejudice and insults, which we have inherited through generations. If now the screenplay of a fratricidal war seems impossible in Ukraine, two generations ago every family suffered losses from such a war. So does a state with such controversial history have any chance to become one whole, or…? Read more>>

On 21-24 February 2013 'Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past' project team invites you to take part in the Dialogue Seminar 'Healing the Past', which will be taken on the far western part of Ukraine - on Zakarpattia (exact place to be defined soon). Deadline for applications is 9 February 2013. Read more>>

Participants of the movement Foundations for Freedom, as a part of a multi-cultural team and multi-ethnic group from Romania, spent ten unforgettable days in the Romanian Hoteni. Read more& watch video>>

From 6-9 September, a dialogue on the theme 'Healing the Past' took place on the shores of the Black Sea in Crimea. This part of present-day Ukraine includes many different cultures and ethnicities who have suffered historical injustices, including famine and forced ethnic re-locations during the Communist era. Read more>>

'Foundations for Freedom' (Ukraine) in partnership with 'Initiatives - Central and Eastern Europe' (Germany) invites young people between the ages of 18 and 25 to the international seminar 'Make a Change! European Youth in Dialogue'. This will be the second seminar of its kind, following last year's success. The Visiting Course will take place in Koktebel, Crimea (Ukraine) October 13-20. Read more>>

Have you heard about the “The Dynamics of Being a Change-maker” conference in Caux, Switzerland from the 02-08 August 2012?

As well as the usual plenaries and community groups, this conference will offer 'Foundations for Freedom' learning track from Eastern and Central Europe run by Anna Pozogina and Angela Starovoytova. It would give a brief overview and a taste of what F4F courses are about and how they are run. Alongside with F4F learning track there would be other tracks run by other successful programmes in IofC. Read more>>

Professor Rajmohan Gandhi joined the official opening of 'Week of Trust' in Simferopol, Ukraine, via Skype on 28 May. Civil campaign 'Week of Trust' was organized by the Club for Young Leaders (CYL, Crimea) in partnership with the International NGO Foundations for Freedom and started in the Information Press-Center in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine.Read more>>

“Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past” project team runs a Dialogue Seminar for the Foundations for Freedom Teams that will take place on 17-20 May 2012 in Lviv region, Ukraine. "We are going to spend a few days in the safe space, inviting our past to come to the present through our memories, thoughts, views, personal stories, and life experiences. We will be ready to grieve and cry, as well as to rejoice, shine with life, be brave to face the future, ready to be honest and sincere with ourselves and the others, so that our past can now or some time later release us for peace, joy, and love. Read more>>

Initiatives of Change-Lorraine (a branch of Initiatives of Change, France) in partnership with Foundations for Freedom (F4F, Ukraine) are pleased to invite you to a discovery visit to the heart of Europe to explore an 'Intergenerational approach to Europe: past, present and future’.The event is dedicated to the important date, 9 May 1950, when Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, indispensable to maintain peaceful relations.

Over the course of one week the group of young adults from different European countries in a constant dialogue between generations, will look at the Europe of yesterday and today. Together they will also be discovering their personal role and responsibility within this group, their organizations and countries in building Europe for tomorrow.. More information and technical details are available here>>.

Youth leaders from around Eastern Europe met to strengthen their networks and plan for the future at the annual Regional Meeting of Foundations for Freedom (F4F) which took place in Baia Mare, Romania, 23-25 March. The full report by Angela Starovoitova read here>>.

INGO Foundations for Freedom would like to inform you about their annual Regional Meeting, which will take place 23-25, March, 2012. The Romanian Club for Young Leaders has expressed its readiness to host us in Baia Mare, Romania.

Regional meetings of Foundations for Freedom have always served as a space for us to meet, get to know about existing initiatives, to evaluate our common past, to look at the present and to think about the future of our network and organization. We are hoping to have this meeting in a style of creating a fruitful atmosphere of ‘searching for the future’. More information and technical details are availablehere>>.

Evgeniya Koroleva and Nastya Sachko, both journalists by profession and members of ‘Club for Young Leaders’ from Crimea (Ukraine), have for a few months now been working as volunteers in Asia Plateau – International centre of Initiatives of Change in Panchgani, India. Their dream to get to Asia Plateau searching for answers on personal questions through new discoveries has had to overcome financial obstacles and a few months of what seemed to be hopeless visa procedure. Evgeniya Koroleva is sharing some of her traveller’s notes that still have the smell of Indian spices. Read more>>

As a part of Healing the Past project Olha Hudz-Sakuma (Ukraine), Lena Kashkarova (Ukraine) and Diana Damsa (Romania) visited a representative of Soviet dissidents’ movement Vladimir Bukovsky in his house in Cambridge. The past and future of Ukraine and Russia, the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation in the present days society and the interaction between personal and civil responsibility are among the topics discussed with Vladimir Bukovsky. Read more>>

Thirty-one members of Farmers’ Dialogue from fourteen countries (East Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia) met in Kigali (Rwanda) in an informal and stimulating setting to consider the various missions of the programme and the team's commitments as a result of their missions. The training was led by the Ukrainian team of Foundations for Freedom. Read more>>

When people change, the world changes. This was the idea behind the 10-day residential course – Inside change: creating foundations for action – that took place at Notre Dame University, Lebanon, from 6-15 May. Based on the format of the Foundations for Freedom Visiting Course and the Caux Interns Program, it was the first programme of its kind to be conducted in the MENA region by IofC. Read more >>